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SG1- "Family Ties"
I, er ... wish I could say I liked this episode, because I've really loved most of the last few. ("Talion" I didn't really like or dislike; it just sort of WAS.) But -- there were just too many things about this episode that irritated me. It had some redeeming features, but not enough to overcome the flaws.
I'm willing to forgive a LOT in Stargate plots. I am willing to swallow a few impossible things per episode as long as I get a fun payoff (and usually there is). The trouble is that this one just pushed me over the edge with a few too many impossible things and not enough to make it worthwhile.
First, the good -- and there *was* some good. I loved the bonding scenes, particularly with Sam & Vala, and Vala & Daniel. And Teal'c's advice to Vala's father -- "Be less annoying" -- absolutely cracked me UP. I adore Teal'c and I love seeing him in his "relaxed and trying to fit in with the humans" mode. And I love Vala lots and lots. I'm also quite fond of the between-mission moments, on both this show and SGA. So, I really *should* have liked this episode.
BUT. The plot holes. Oh, the plot holes. *covers head and whimpers*
The big one is that there is JUST NO WAY Vala's father could have picked up that much about Earth culture in only three weeks. And I *know* it's just a TV show and that it was mostly being played for laughs, but still -- he's an alien, who's never been to Earth before, and he's almost instantly grasped very complicated things like the Internet, bingo, phone scams, buying tickets ... it was just too obvious that they *were* playing it totally for laughs and not even thinking about the actual situation at all. Along similar lines, there is also NO WAY the military is going to turn an alien, who's KNOWN to be unreliable and a con artist, loose on Earth! Sure, they had the ankle tracker on him, but he was apparently living in Colorado Springs with access to the Internet and phones, and nothing whatsoever to stop him from telling anyone and everyone about the Stargate program. It's just ... no. It's so impossible that I can't even buy it enough to enjoy the episode as a comedy.
And then there's Vala's whole reaction to her father. I love Vala, but I feel as if they threw out a big part of her character in order to have her respond to her father the way that the plot dictated. It just doesn't make *sense* to me that Vala, thief and con artist and unrepentant free spirit, would be so thoroughly on her moral high horse with her father for behaving exactly as she used to. Given that I haven't seen most of the early episodes with Vala and I'm mainly picking this up from what little I know about her background, but still. Not only is it hypocritical, but it doesn't really seem in character. I know that they briefly addressed the issue through Daniel, but it *still* didn't work for me and detracted a lot from the scenes with her and her father.
The scam turnabout at the end was kinda cool, but ... they gave him a fully-functional ship, knowing that he was just going to fly away in it? And he didn't even LOOK at the cargo before offering it to a buyer? WTF?
And didn't Vala say in an earlier episode that she had been sold to a trader as a child -- or something along those lines? How does THAT fit with THIS?
Aargh!
I'm willing to forgive a LOT in Stargate plots. I am willing to swallow a few impossible things per episode as long as I get a fun payoff (and usually there is). The trouble is that this one just pushed me over the edge with a few too many impossible things and not enough to make it worthwhile.
First, the good -- and there *was* some good. I loved the bonding scenes, particularly with Sam & Vala, and Vala & Daniel. And Teal'c's advice to Vala's father -- "Be less annoying" -- absolutely cracked me UP. I adore Teal'c and I love seeing him in his "relaxed and trying to fit in with the humans" mode. And I love Vala lots and lots. I'm also quite fond of the between-mission moments, on both this show and SGA. So, I really *should* have liked this episode.
BUT. The plot holes. Oh, the plot holes. *covers head and whimpers*
The big one is that there is JUST NO WAY Vala's father could have picked up that much about Earth culture in only three weeks. And I *know* it's just a TV show and that it was mostly being played for laughs, but still -- he's an alien, who's never been to Earth before, and he's almost instantly grasped very complicated things like the Internet, bingo, phone scams, buying tickets ... it was just too obvious that they *were* playing it totally for laughs and not even thinking about the actual situation at all. Along similar lines, there is also NO WAY the military is going to turn an alien, who's KNOWN to be unreliable and a con artist, loose on Earth! Sure, they had the ankle tracker on him, but he was apparently living in Colorado Springs with access to the Internet and phones, and nothing whatsoever to stop him from telling anyone and everyone about the Stargate program. It's just ... no. It's so impossible that I can't even buy it enough to enjoy the episode as a comedy.
And then there's Vala's whole reaction to her father. I love Vala, but I feel as if they threw out a big part of her character in order to have her respond to her father the way that the plot dictated. It just doesn't make *sense* to me that Vala, thief and con artist and unrepentant free spirit, would be so thoroughly on her moral high horse with her father for behaving exactly as she used to. Given that I haven't seen most of the early episodes with Vala and I'm mainly picking this up from what little I know about her background, but still. Not only is it hypocritical, but it doesn't really seem in character. I know that they briefly addressed the issue through Daniel, but it *still* didn't work for me and detracted a lot from the scenes with her and her father.
The scam turnabout at the end was kinda cool, but ... they gave him a fully-functional ship, knowing that he was just going to fly away in it? And he didn't even LOOK at the cargo before offering it to a buyer? WTF?
And didn't Vala say in an earlier episode that she had been sold to a trader as a child -- or something along those lines? How does THAT fit with THIS?
Aargh!
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That's not to say that I didn't have problems with it...
The big one is that there is JUST NO WAY Vala's father could have picked up that much about Earth culture in only three weeks.
Tell me about it. Especially when they've made it so clear that Teal'c, Vala and Jonas had huge problems assimilating themselves into Earth culture. But they do this kindo f thing all the time - aliens able to instantly use Earth computers and vice versa - it's ridiculous! I got out my old wordprocessor yesterday, which has a QWERTY keyboard, and was having huge problems with it. I guess I'm able to (reluctantly) stuff this ploy hole into that bag and (kind of) accept it (except not really)
It just doesn't make *sense* to me that Vala, thief and con artist and unrepentant free spirit, would be so thoroughly on her moral high horse with her father for behaving exactly as she used to.
Well yes. But I also thought there might be a level of - I became that because of your influence, thanks for nothing - in there too. Also it's the fact that he said he'd turn his life around, and he didn't that's the issue here (I think, it's been over a week since i watched it)
they gave him a fully-functional ship, knowing that he was just going to fly away in it?
And in one fell swoop got rid of someone they didn't want on the planet anyway... makes sense to me.
didn't Vala say in an earlier episode that she had been sold to a trader as a child
When? Don't remember that. Doesn't mean it didn't happen, however - it's SGA where I absorb every personal detail like its the sir I breathe!
What did you think of the Sci-Fi jibes and the last scene?
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I know. I think it's one of those things where I can accept it as long as it's not really THAT over-the-top, or else I'm distracted by shiny things. (It's amazing the plot holes I'll overlook for John and Rodney snark, for example -- witness basically the entire episode of Progeny!) I think it bothered me particularly because his behavior was contrasting with that of Teal'c and Vala, who as you pointed out are STILL figuring out a lot of Earth culture ... and Teal'c has been here for ten years!
To some extent, the culture shock is going to be cushioned by the fact that they're all speaking the same language (something I really do try not to think about too much, but am willing to accept for dramatic convenience).
And in one fell swoop got rid of someone they didn't want on the planet anyway... makes sense to me.
Well, yes, but they're at WAR and surely don't have spaceships to throw around like that! And considering that they entirely had the advantage of weapons and numbers, they had so many more options ... like, say, having a couple of soldiers hiding in the ship, taking back the ship and dropping him off through the gate? Doing it this way is kind of like taking a known double-crosser and giving him a Black Hawk helicopter ... or something ... . It's just a really bizarre waste of resources given the fact that they didn't HAVE to and that he's tried to sell out the Earth once already.
Given the number of things that didn't make sense in the episode, though, that's kind of a minor one.
When? Don't remember that. Doesn't mean it didn't happen, however - it's SGA where I absorb every personal detail like its the sir I breathe!
LOL, it's nice that it's not just me! But I did remember that part, and went back and found it; it's in the high-school-reunion episode a few weeks back, and I was mis-remembering just a little bit. She tells Cam's high school classmates that instead of going to school, she was sold as a domestic servant to an arms smuggler. So this could have happened when she was a bit older, and it's also possible that she was exaggerating.
What did you think of the Sci-Fi jibes and the last scene?
I'm utterly clueless to that kind of nuance. I had no idea that the episode was jabbing at Sci-Fi in any way, or that they were deliberately going for subversive with the last scene, 'til I went online and read a couple episode reactions after watching it. Yes, I am an idiot. But clue me in: WHAT scenes, specifically?
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They're always at war. And it's a cargo ship, not a warship. Seems it's a bit easier these days to get hold of one.
The Sci-Fi jibes... nuanced? Not so much! Well the first one - yes, the second one? NO!
The first line from Cam - 'They cancelled it, really? I didn't even know the new season had started.'
The second one was at the 28:30 mark
DAD: I don't mind telling you I'm a bit disappointed in this facility. I was expecting more.
SAM: Well at times so do we. But the truth is the Stargate program just doesn't get the support it used to from the people in charge.
DAD: Why not?
LEE: Eureka! One down, twelve to go.
DAD: That's too bad. After all your Stargate program has accomplished for this network of planets. I would think that the decision makers would show it the respect it deserves.
SAM: Yep.
If you look at it. Sam's first comment seems OCC. Also NETWORK of planets. What is he on about?! No one's ever talked about a network of planets - there isn't one! Network = Sci-Fi. And they deliberately use the word 'program'. Plus, it's Mallozzi and Mullie a writing this and at times they don't seem to give a damn what anyone thinks about what they write - fans, network, no one. They wrote 'Irresponsible' after all... (They've also written some really good stuff too - but we can blame 'The Tower' on them. *Shudders*)
So after that, IMHO. the last scene really can't be read in any other way than being "We're pissed that you've cancelled us, after being one of your top 3 shows and hauling up your ratings, therefore we're going to pack in the word 'vagina' as many times as possible."
Chris Judge - what a great comedic actor! I was killing myself laughing for about 3 minutes afterwards.
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I do other things when re-watching TV. On that subject, and veering wildly off-course... I've not even touched my SGA S2 discs yet (but then I've seen/heard the extras thank to the nice region 2 people releasing the individual volumes throughout 2006). Instead, I'm watching SG-1 S1!
It's so weird seeing things that happened in S1. Teal'c calls Daniel 'Daniel' (though to be fair, the line is 'Daniel Jackson? Daniel Jackson! Daniel!) Teal'c wears sunglasses! The Gate technician technobabble changes from week to week (as you might expect) and O'Neill turns up at a briefing (other than the one in the pilot) in dress blues! Shocking!
Plus Jack's hair freaks me out.
Talking of briefings - what is the 'briefing room' called in SGA? is it 'briefing room'? I'm too lazy to check.
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I think they call it the conference room. At least that's how I think of it. I'd have to go re-watch some episodes to try to figure it out, though.
We re-watched most of the first season last summer, and it *was* kind of a shock. I hadn't remembered how very different the "feel" of the really early episodes was, compared to the later episodes and SGA with their darker, more sarcastic edge. The really early SG-1 was a really happy, goofy show in a lot of ways, really more of a throwback to Star Trek: TOS (in spirit) than even the later Treks. It was also interesting to see how quickly the SG-1 bunch jumped into close friendship with each other, and how much backstory was revealed right off the bat, compared to the way SGA has played things so much closer to the vest. SG-1 has always had much more of a personal stake in their missions, with Daniel's missing wife and Teal'c's Jaffa connection, as opposed to SGA which is all about the "explore new worlds, meet new people and kill them" kind of thing.
Notice how I'm talking about SGA again ... I'm incorrigible!
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It certainly helped that 2 character's back story came pret a porter from the movie, and had to be dealt with. SGA had a virtually clean slate character wise (how much of vital importance do we really know about Weir and McKay from SG-1 that greatly impacts SGA? Not much, if anything.)
The Jack/Teal'c, John/Teyla bond is similar in speed and in the 'Earthling's' total trust of the 'alien'.
SGA has less personal motivation, but in some ways it's more immediate. We need power! We need food! We need shelter before we get drowned or electrocuted! SG-1 also misses chunks of time and tells us about it - a missing mission is mentioned in 'Emanicipation' and that's 1x04!
I'm not sure whether it feels lighter. There are some very heavy episodes - they stop a rape - a team leader proclaims himself as God. But then there is more of a 'we turn up, we get in trouble, we get out of trouble, we go away and it doesn't affect us immediately' feel, if that's what you mean. There seem to be more stand alone episodes - which is very Star Trek TOS. Maybe it's something different? Hey I'm on episode 11, so I've not got far!
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Yeah, I think that's it. Or rather, it's a conviction that things will work out for the best, a sort of belief in everyone's better nature. I can't really come up with a good way to describe it; I just feel sort of a darker or more sarcastic undertone to SGA that isn't there in the early seasons of SG-1 (though it develops later).
Though you're right that SGA jumped pretty quickly into being friends -- but again, I didn't get the vibe of real closeness between them until really late in the first season, whereas with SG-1 it seemed to be there pretty quickly.
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Anyway, SGA has SG-1's experience to look back on. They already know that things usually go very wrong, and they don't have the same naivete that Daniel has in breaking cover to introduce himself to people. Dear Daniel, it's like he has no fear.
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While also showing that Vala's still living on base. That's what killed me.
I didn't mind Vala's reaction to her father, and actually found it made sense that she'd hate him for how it made her deal with other people. What actually bothered me the most was all the scenes where everyone kept on telling her she was making the wrong decision by distancing herself from him.
I think this was actually my least favourite SG-1 episode ever. Although its possible that I disliked others and have just blocked them out, since I've only done the one run through and I watched S2-S9 in a couple of months. But there were so many things that I couldn't deal with in this one.
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It certainly is for me right now, although there are still a couple of seasons I haven't seen, and a lot of the series I can't remember. But as far as having an initial reaction that was very negative -- yeah. My reaction to this one was very much the same as with SGA's "Irresponsible", in fact, and for a number of similar reasons.
What actually bothered me the most was all the scenes where everyone kept on telling her she was making the wrong decision by distancing herself from him.
Oh yeah, that drove me nuts too. Jeez ... the man is a con artist, dealing with him obviously makes her miserable, so let's everybody play closet shrink and try to get her to reconcile with him -- so he can screw her over again!
*sigh*
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One thing about this episode was that it did make me look more kindly on Lucius... I mean, he grated on me, but I didn't *hate* him.
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Anyway, back to SG1 - I liked the bit where Sam calls Vala's dad a jerk, and he misunderstands why she thinks he is one. Of course, being a fic writer, I have a little conversation that I need to write into a story one day between Sam and Rodney, where she admits there are bigger jerks out there than him (thinking of Vala's Dad)...but that's just me and the way the plot bunnies like to hijack me!! And notice how everything ends up back at SGA for me - can we say 'on track mind'!! Or is that 'obsessed'?
Still, I liked the scam turnabout at the end as well, though I suspected it quite early on (suspicious mind and all that, something that the new (to us over here) show on UK's Sci-Fi Channel Heroes is definitely stretching!). But I also agree, why let him have a ship? And why didn't he check the cargo?
Ah well, hope the last two episodes are good - will have to wait until my friend has taped them for me (long story regarding sateliite vs cable and why I've lost Sky One that shows SG1, SGA, Bones and BSG and so have to rely on various friends now to watch them - though have already seen the last two SGA thanks to You Tube, and could always do that for SG1 if desperate). Hmm, think I've got a bit sidetracked here...